Nursing competency and organizational climate as perceived by staff nurses in a Chinese university hospital

The Relationship Between Perception of Good Death With Clinical Competence of End-Of-Life Care in Critical Care Nurses

Providing a good death can be one of the most important goals of end-of-life care. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the concept of good death with clinical end-of-life care competence among intensive care nurses. The participants were 279 nurses in southeast Iran. The data were collected using the Nurses' Concept of Good Death Questionnaire and the Clinical Competency of End-of-Life Care Questionnaire. There was a positive, moderate, and significant correlation between nurses' concept of good death and their clinical competence in end-of-life care. Nurses who got higher scores on the concept of good death showed higher levels of clinical competence in end-of-life care. It is possible to take steps to improve nurses' concepts and knowledge through specialized educational interventions.

Development and Psychometric Testing of a Self-Rated Scale Based on National Nursing Core Competency Standards

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The objectives of this study were to develop a National Nursing Core Competency Standards (NNCCS)-based instrument and determine its construct validity and internal consistency reliability.

METHODS

A methodologic research design was used to validate the 59-item scale based on the responses of 600 nurses. The scale items were culled from the client care, leadership and management, and research competencies identified in the NNCCS.

RESULTS

The results of the analyses confirmed 53 items and gave rise to a five-factor solution. The five dimensions are leadership, management, research, ethico-legal, and strategic competencies.

CONCLUSIONS

The seminal psychometric testing provided an evidence of acceptable validity and reliability of the proposed instrument. Further testing was recommended to accrue the psychometric soundness of the instrument.

Spiritual Climate as is Perceived by Greek Clinical Nurses. A Validation study

Introduction:

Organisational climate generally refers to issues such as information sharing climate, appreciation and recognition, concern for employee well-being, ethics and quality performance. In hospitals, it represents the shared beliefs and values that may affect the quality of care in health care groups and which could be managed to improve the quality of care.

Aim:

Aim of the study was the translation of the Spiritual climate Scale (SCS) in Greek language and the validation of the scale for the Greek population.

Methods:

The SCS is an anonymous self-administered questionnaire that contains four, five-point Likert scale, closed questions. The questionnaire was translated into Greek language and then back translated in the English in order to be checked for any inconsistencies. The sample of the study was 275 nurses, working in two public hospital in Athens. Exploratory factor analysis, with principal components analysis was performed for checking the construct validity of the questionnaire. The test–retest reliability and the internal consistency were also examined. Statistical analysis performed by the use of SPSS 25.0. Statistical significance level was set at p=0.05.

Results:

From the total 275 of the participants 238(86.5%) were women and the mean age was 43.8±8.7. The final Greek version of the questionnaire includes all of the four questions and one factor was exported from the exploratory factor analysis. The Cronbach-α coefficient was 0.902 for the total questionnaire.

Conclusions:

The SCS is a valid and reliable questionnaire that can be used for assessing spiritual climate in Greek clinical areas.

Psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Intensive and Critical Care Nursing Competence Scale version-1 (ICCN-CS-1)

Background

Nursing competence is highly related to patient outcomes and patient safety issues, especially in intensive care units. Competence assessment tools are needed specifically for intensive care nursing.

Objective

This study was performed to determine psychometric properties of the Intensive and Critical Care Nursing Competence Scale version-1 between Iranian Nurses.

Methods

The present study was a methodological research in which 289 nurses of Intensive Care Units from nine hospitals in Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran were selected between 2015 and 2016. The original version of the scale was translated into Persian and back-translated into English, and the comments of the developer were applied. The validity of the scale was the determined quality (content validity and face validity) and quantity (confirmatory factor analysis). Reliability of the scale was reported by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and Intra class Correlation Coefficient. SPSS-PC (v.21) and LISREL (v.8.5) were used to analyze the data.

Results

The intensive and critical care nursing competence scale version-1 is a self-assessment test that consists of 144 items and four domains which are the knowledge base, the skill base, the attitudes and values base and the experience base, which are divided into clinical competence and professional competence. Content and face validity was confirmed by 10 experts and 10 practitioner nurses in the intensive care units. In confirmatory factor analysis, all fitness indexes, except goodness of fit index (0.64), confirmed the four-factor structure of the ICCN-CS-1. The results of the factor analysis, load factor between 0.304 and 0.727 items was estimated; only 4 items out of 144 items, that were loaded were less than 0.3 due to high Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (0.984–0.986), all items were preserved, no item was removed and 4 subscales of the original scale were confirmed.

Conclusion

The results of this study indicated that the Persian version of “The Intensive and Critical Care Nursing Competence Scale version-1” is a valid and reliable scale for the assessment of competency among Iranian nurses, and it can be used as a reliable scale in nursing management, education and research.

Os trabalhadores das Equipes de Saúde da Família no Rio de Janeiro: aspectos da liderança em pesquisa de clima organizacional

Resumo O clima organizacional pode ser compreendido como a percepção formal ou informal de políticas, práticas, ações e procedimentos organizacionais, sendo um fator de influência na eficiência dos resultados, bem como na conduta das pessoas que fazem parte de uma organização. Este artigo descreve uma das dimensões do clima organizacional – liderança, comparando os estratos de categorias profissionais das Equipes de Saúde da Família da cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Para isso, realizou-se um inquérito de base administrativa, com amostra de n = 9.590 pessoas em 187 unidades de atenção primária (71 Clínicas da Família e 116 Centros Municipais de Saúde). Os resultados demonstram que todos os itens que mensuram o domínio “liderança” foram positivamente avaliados com diferenças entre os estratos (p-valor < 0,001). Recomendamos a realização de pesquisas periódicas, a realização de Oficinas de liderança nas próprias unidades de saúde, assim como o uso de ferramentas de educação a distancia para a troca de informações e capacitação das equipes.

Clinical Competence and Its Related Factors of Nurses in Neonatal Intensive Care Units

Introduction: Clinical competence of nurses working in the neonatal intensive care units together with advancements in medical science and technology increased the survival rate of newborns that need specialized care. To ensure the quality of care and provide the safety of patients, evaluating the clinical competence of nurses seems necessary. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical competence of nurses in the neonatal intensive care units.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 117 nurses working in the neonatal intensive care units of the hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences were selected by census method. The research tool was Development of Competency Inventory for Registered Nurses questionnaire which completed by self-assessment. The mean clinical competence scores of participants categorized into 3 levels: weak: <225, moderate: 225-273 and good: >273. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 13 using the Pearson correlation coefficient, t-test and Chi-square test.

Results: The highest levels of competence were related to critical thinking and research attitude and interpersonal relationships, and the lowest level was related to training and mentoring. There was a direct statistically significant relationship between marital status, employment status, level of interest in working in the neonatal intensive-care units and the clinical competence of nurses.

Conclusion: Since the clinical competence of nurses in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units is vital, some variables such as interest in the nursing profession, employment status, the neonatal intensive theoretical and practical training courses and the amount of overtime working hours should be taken into consideration.

Opportunities and challenges for thoracic surgery collaborations in China: a commentary

Through a unique combination of factors-including a huge population, rapid social development, and concentration of resources in its mega-cities-China is witnessing phenomenal developments in the field of thoracic surgery. Ultra-high-volume centers are emerging that provide fantastic new opportunities for surgical training and clinical research to surgeons in China and partners from other countries. However, there are also particular shortcomings that are limiting clinical and academic developments. To realize the potential and reap the rewards, the challenges posed by these limitations must be overcome. Thoracic surgeons from Europe may be particularly well-placed to achieve this through multi-dimensional exchanges with their Chinese counterparts.

Nurse perceptions of organizational culture and its association with the culture of error reporting: a case of public sector hospitals in Pakistan

Background

There is an absence of formal error tracking systems in public sector hospitals of Pakistan and also a lack of literature concerning error reporting culture in the health care sector. Nurse practitioners have front-line knowledge and rich exposure about both the organizational culture and error sharing in hospital settings. The aim of this paper was to investigate the association between organizational culture and the culture of error reporting, as perceived by nurses.

Methods

The authors used the “Practice Environment Scale-Nurse Work Index Revised” to measure the six dimensions of organizational culture. Seven questions were used from the “Survey to Solicit Information about the Culture of Reporting” to measure error reporting culture in the region. Overall, 309 nurses participated in the survey, including female nurses from all designations such as supervisors, instructors, ward-heads, staff nurses and student nurses. We used SPSS 17.0 to perform a factor analysis. Furthermore, descriptive statistics, mean scores and multivariable logistic regression were used for the analysis.

Results

Three areas were ranked unfavorably by nurse respondents, including: (i) the error reporting culture, (ii) staffing and resource adequacy, and (iii) nurse foundations for quality of care. Multivariable regression results revealed that all six categories of organizational culture, including: (1) nurse manager ability, leadership and support, (2) nurse participation in hospital affairs, (3) nurse participation in governance, (4) nurse foundations of quality care, (5) nurse-coworkers relations, and (6) nurse staffing and resource adequacy, were positively associated with higher odds of error reporting culture. In addition, it was found that married nurses and nurses on permanent contract were more likely to report errors at the workplace.

Conclusion

Public healthcare services of Pakistan can be improved through the promotion of an error reporting culture, reducing staffing and resource shortages and the development of nursing care plans.

The Professional Nurse Self-Assessment Scale: Psychometric testing in Norwegian long term and home care contexts

BACKGROUND

Nurses' clinical competence is vital to ensure safe and high quality care, and the continuous assessment of nurses' clinical competence is of major concern. A validated instrument for the self-assessment of nurses' clinical competence at different educational levels across specialties and countries is lacking. The aim of this study was to test the reliability and construct validity of the new Professional Nurse Self-Assessment Scale (ProffNurse SAS) questionnaire in long term and home care contexts in Norway. The questionnaire is based on the Nordic Advanced Practice Nursing model, in which the nurse-patient relationship is central.

METHODS

The study has a cross-sectional survey design. A purposive sample of 357 registered nurses who worked in long term and home care contexts in two geographical regions encompassing eight municipalities and three counties was included. The respondents completed the 74-item ProffNurse SAS questionnaire and demographic background data was collected. Data collection was conducted in two phases: first region autumn 2011 and second region spring 2012. Exploratory factor analyses (EFA) were used to test the psychometric properties of the questionnaire and included the following steps: assessment of the factorality of the data, factor extraction by Principal Component Analysis (PCA), oblimin (oblique) factor rotation, and interpretation. Cronbach's alpha was used to estimate the internal consistency.

RESULTS

The PCA revealed a six-component structure, reducing the number of items in the questionnaire from 74 to 51. Based on the content of the highest-loading items, the six components were named: Direct Clinical Practice, Professional Development, Ethical Decision-Making, Clinical Leadership, Cooperation and Consultation, and Critical Thinking. The Cronbach's alpha values ranged from 0.940 (highest; Direct Clinical Practice) to 0.737 (lowest; Critical Thinking), leading to the estimation that the ProffNurse SAS is reliable.

CONCLUSIONS

The six components support the study's theoretical framework. The ProffNurse SAS showed acceptable reliability and construct validity and may therefore be a promising instrument for the assessment of practicing nurses' clinical competence. However, we recommend further psychometric testing in other countries and contexts and the inclusion of larger samples of nurses at various levels of education, particularly master's level APNs.

Competence development as perceived by degree and non-degree graduates in Japan: a longitudinal study

BACKGROUND

A degree programme is believed to prepare graduates with a higher level of competence than their diploma counterparts. However, there have been inconsistent findings reported as to whether or not degree-graduates outperformed those who take diplomas.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to identify graduates' perceptions of competence development in their first year of employment, and to compare the competence levels of graduates with different educational backgrounds.

DESIGN

This study adopted a longitudinal design.

SETTINGS

This study has been performed in five hospitals in Japan.

PARTICIPANTS

122 Japanese graduates participated in this study.

METHODS

The self-assessed competence of the graduates was collected in the 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12th months of their employment using a survey method. The data were analysed using a linear mixed model.

RESULTS

The results suggested that the graduates perceived their competence to be rapidly growing during the first half of the graduate year, and slowly later. The results also indicated that the graduates' perception of their competence showed a significant variation. The most striking finding of the study was that, on average, the non-degree graduates rated their competence higher than their degree counterparts.

CONCLUSIONS

The current university orientation on emphasising intellectual and theoretical components of education, with less focus on practical components might have led to the development of lower competence among the BN graduates. A fine balance between theoretical and practical components needs to be established in a university curriculum.

Psychosocial work environment, stress factors and individual characteristics among nursing staff in psychiatric in-patient care

The psychosocial work environment is an important factor in psychiatric in-patient care, and knowing more of its correlates might open up new paths for future workplace interventions. Thus, the aims of the present study were to investigate perceptions of the psychosocial work environment among nursing staff in psychiatric in-patient care and how individual characteristics--Mastery, Moral Sensitivity, Perceived Stress, and Stress of Conscience--are related to different aspects of the psychosocial work environment. A total of 93 nursing staff members filled out five questionnaires: the QPSNordic 34+, Perceived Stress Scale, Stress of Conscience Questionnaire, Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire, and Mastery scale. Multivariate analysis showed that Perceived Stress was important for Organisational Climate perceptions. The Stress of Conscience subscale Internal Demands and Experience in current units were indicators of Role Clarity. The other Stress of Conscience subscale, External Demands and Restrictions, was related to Control at Work. Two types of stress, Perceived Stress and Stress of Conscience, were particularly important for the nursing staff's perception of the psychosocial work environment. Efforts to prevent stress may also contribute to improvements in the psychosocial work environment.

Living with and caring for patients with Alzheimer's disease in nursing homes

INTRODUCTION

Many of the patients with Alzheimer disease are taken care of in nursing homes. However the literature on the experiences of Iranian formal caregivers of older adults with Alzheimer disease is scarce. This qualitative study explored the caring experiences of formal caregivers in nursing homes that can improve the quality of care and patient's quality of life.

METHODS

This qualitative study used the principles of descriptive content analysis to analyze these data. Our participants included 11 female and 3 male caregivers aged 25 to 38 years who were selected for interviewing based on a purposive sampling method. The data were analyzed with a content analysis method.

RESULTS

Nearly 900 initial codes were extracted and categorized into 6 main themes including "managing difficult behaviors", "dependence on familial care", "continuum of different feelings", "care for a child", "living with the patients" and "not understanding the patients", which was further analyzed in the two subcategories "caring without enough information" and " a dead man moving". conclusion: The care provided by our informants was mainly influenced by attitudes, culture and religious beliefs of caregivers about family attachment and ample driven reward of helping and caring frail or old people in Islam. These cultural and religious beliefs could facilitate provision of care and confrontation with patients' child-like behaviors. It is suggested that employment of trained staff and plans for their continued education can improve the quality of care and the quality of the patient's life.

Screening and brief intervention for alcohol and other drug use in primary care: associations between organizational climate and practice

Background

Numerous studies have demonstrated that positive organizational climates contribute to better work performance. Screening and brief intervention (SBI) for alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use has the potential to reach a broad population of hazardous drug users but has not yet been widely adopted in Brazil’s health care system. We surveyed 149 primary health care professionals in 30 clinics in Brazil who were trained to conduct SBI among their patients. We prospectively measured how often they delivered SBI to evaluate the association between organizational climate and adoption/performance of SBI.

Methods

Organizational climate was measured by the 2009 Organizational Climate Scale for Health Organizations, a scale validated in Brazil that assesses leadership, professional development, team spirit, relationship with the community, safety, strategy, and remuneration. Performance of SBI was measured prospectively by weekly assessments during the three months following training. We also assessed self-reported SBI and self-efficacy for performing SBI at three months post-training. We used inferential statistics to depict and test for the significance of associations.

Results

Teams with better organizational climates implemented SBI more frequently. Organizational climate factors most closely associated with SBI implementation included professional development and relationship with the community. The dimensions of leadership and remuneration were also significantly associated with SBI.

Conclusions

Organizational climate may influence implementation of SBI and ultimately may affect the ability of organizations to identify and address drug use.

The relationship between the levels of nurses' competence and the length of their clinical experience: a tentative model for nursing competence development

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To explore the relationship between the levels of nurses' competence and the length of their clinical experience, in order to provide a tentative model of the continuing competence of nurses.

BACKGROUND

The professional development of employees has attracted great interest. This interest has led to the development of various models that illustrate how employees develop their competence throughout their careers. However, little is known of how nurses maintain and develop their competence throughout their career pathways.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional design was used.

METHODS

Using a survey method, five dimensions of self-assessed nursing competence and the length of the nurses' clinical practice were measured (n = 325). Each dimension of competence was plotted against the length of their clinical experience using locally weighted scatterplot smoothing. Then, the shapes of the plots were analysed by fractional polynomial regression analysis.

RESULTS

Overall, the relationships between the levels of nursing competence and the length of clinical experience were illustrated by curves with a rapid increase in competence levels at the early stage of the nursing career and a slower increase later. These curves were modelled by either a logarithmic, square-root function or its reciprocal. The results supported the learning curve model.

CONCLUSIONS

The competence development of nurses may be characterised by two distinctive periods: a rapid growth period followed by stable periods. However, the modality of the growth may be different depending on which dimension of nursing competence is in focus.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

The level of nursing competence directly affects the quality of care provided to patients. The findings of the study enable healthcare organisations to take proactive approaches to enhance nurses' competence by identifying when and how to assist nurses.

Clima organizacional e atividades de prevenção ao uso de risco de álcool

O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a associação entre Clima Organizacional e atividades de prevenção ao consumo de álcool entre 97 profissionais da Atenção Primária à Saúde. O clima organizacional foi avaliado por meio de escala envolvendo os seguintes fatores: tomada de decisão, caos/stress e comunicação. As atividades de prevenção foram mensuradas a partir do número de Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Tests (instrumento de rastreamento) e de intervenções breves realizados no período de 6 meses após a capacitação presencial. Para verificar a existência das associações utilizou-se a correlação não paramétrica de Spearman, com 95% de intervalo de confiança. O número de intervenções breves realizadas relacionou-se com Tomada de Decisão (p=0,337; p=0,001) e Comunicação (p=0,281; p=0,005), enquanto o número de Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Tests aplicados associou-se com Tomada de Decisão (p=0,288; p=0,004) e Comunicação (p=0,215; p=0,035). Os resultados sugerem que ambientes com melhor percepção do clima organizacional podem ser facilitadores para a prevenção do uso de álcool na Atenção Primária à Saúde.